THE PROCESS OF BUYING A BOAT #
Amazingly, Sean really wasn’t joking when he said in our first ever YouTube video that the whole idea of buying a boat and travelling the world on it… itself began as a complete joke!
However, cue Sean getting very obsessed with the idea, until we realised we were both on board(!) with the idea, and were willing to follow through. And here we are, over a year and a half later.
Considering What We Were Looking For #
As Sean was (and still is!) the more experienced sailor out of the two of us, he was the one who was in charge of sitting down and researching the type of boat we would buy just if we were going to do this… After many weeks of reading, researching, and thinking, he had much more of an idea about the type of boat we wanted.
Initially, he had hoped for a boat which wasn’t production-made. The idea with these is that they are not mass produced as quickly as possible, like modern production boats are. There is instead much more care put into their manufacturing and they’re often hand-crafted. They’re generally thought of as more sturdy, better built, and simply better quality.
The only issue with that? They’re either 20+ years old, or they’re incredibly expensive. We were personally a little nervous about getting a boat that was older than us, as wear and tear over time can eventually begin to damage the structure and the hull of the boat… But we couldn’t really afford anything newer!
So, production it was. Next, we had to consider a few other things like the keel, the rudder, the placement of the cockpit, and the interior design. Firstly, we knew we wanted a boat with a decent sized keel, as this keeps you considerably safer when sailing in large waves or bad weather - and is therefore a better blue water boat.
Ideally, we wanted a skeg-hung rudder. This is a rudder which is independent from the hull, and instead is hung from a structural fin (the skeg) that is part of the hull. This means that should the rudder ever be damaged (through a grounding, debris, or even an Iberian orca…) then it won’t risk the damage also affecting the hull of the boat.
For the position of the cockpit, there are two options - a centre cockpit, or an aft cockpit. Initially, we looked mostly at boats with a centre cockpit as they’re considered safer - there’s less risk of falling overboard, and they typically have large stern cabins.
We had nothing that would be an absolute dealbreaker about the interior of the boat, but we at least knew we wanted more than one cabin/bedroom, good storage options, and a bright interior that you don’t have to worry about hitting your head on!
What Boats Did We Consider #
Initially, Sean was keen to look into a Westerley Oceanlord. He knew he liked these as a non- production boat option, and they’re a well regarded boat that people seem to like. But our main concern was just the ages of them, and the potential degradation of the hull worried us too much. Plus, what really sealed the deal that it wouldn’t be the boat for us was that when looking into the statistics of the boat (through sailboatdata.com), the sail area was relatively small for a boat of this size. We didn’t want to be underpowered, especially in a boat this heavy, and risk rarely hitting 6 knots of boat speed!
We did try to get a viewing on one that was near Dublin in Ireland, but unfortunately they were only able to host viewings on a weekday. We would have been flying out over the weekend, and to take time off of work to view boats felt wrong so early into the process.
Next, we were looking at either a Jeanneau or a Beneteau. Sean’s dad owns a racing Beneteau that he likes, and they’re a popular brand of sailboats. A Beneteau Oceanis would have been ideal, and Sean has even admitted once or twice that he probably would have preferred one of them over our current boat! There were sadly none for sale near us.
However, a good alternative (although at times slightly more expensive) was a Jeanneau. Their Sun Odyssey range is pretty wide, as it contains many options within the 36 - 42 feet that we were considering; as well as performance, classic, and deck saloon (DS) options.
Getting on a flight to go view boats still seemed like such a crazy thing to do at the very start of this process, so we initially were looking for boats accessible by car or public transport. There were a couple in Ireland (again) that we spoke to a broker about booking a viewing for, but in the meantime we kept looking.
Our First Viewing #
Then, we found a Sun Odyssey 39DS on sale in Scotland. It was out of our original budget so it wasn’t one we had properly considered yet, but we thought it would be a great idea to at least go and view it. It was just a couple of trains and a short ferry away - why couldn’t we make a nice weekend of it?
So off we went, to go view this boat! It was, in fact, a lovely weekend away. And then seeing the the boat for the first time blew us away.
The interior was beautiful. It had these big wide cat-eye windows in the saloon that let in just so much light, and it seemed in such good condition for a boat over 15 years old. The owner at the time was a boatbuilder and so we felt comfortable with his expert knowledge, and that he would have looked after it well during the time he owned it.
We left, incredibly excited, and amazed beyond belief that we had found such an amazing boat on our first ever viewing!
It still does feel silly to say that we then went for it, and bought the first ever boat we viewed. It’s something that everyone tells you not to do, and in all honesty, in hindsight I guess I can see why. But I do think that as it was going to be our first ever boat, we were never really going to know exactly what to do.
And even with the knowledge and experience we’ve had to date, I still wouldn’t change it.
An Offer #
After meeting with the previous owner, myself and Sean had some serious chats. About whether we were willing to go out of the original budget, if we were actually going to put in an offer, and about what our absolute upper limit was.
So we began to negotiate. Unlike when you buy a house, you rarely receive the asking price for a boat. You always offer under, and negotiate between that number and the asking price. Initially, we lowballed. It was (unsurprisingly) turned down and we were asked to try again. But with a second number, conversations were happening. Suddenly, our next offer was accepted and it was all becoming real! We were requesting a survey, contracts were being signed… it was all very exciting! And then we were the owners of our very own, and very first boat. A 2009 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 39DS.
It features: #
A 2m-deep bulb keel Spade rudder (a compromise) Aft cockpit (we now prefer this as mooring with only 2 people feels easier, the twin wheels enable good visibility at the helm, and there’s a clear walkthrough path to the back of the boat) 2 cabins (one of which is a large aft cabin), 1 head/bathroom, and a ‘garage’ (our storage area!)